golfrewind.com

Hello again fellow golfers!

I just got back from a long stint on the road with the Nationwide Tour and it ended with a bang!

One of the Grinders, Ricky Barnes, qualified for the US Open! Unfortunately, he's taking the week off, so I'll have to catch up with him to do an interview in Findley Lake, NY. In the meantime, here’s what he had to say about it:

"...wow was that one **** of a golf course. Obviously, it’s always a good thing to be part of major championship, especially in our own Open here in the States. But little did I know it would prove to be the toughest golf course I have ever laid eyes on (or played for that matter).

I never thought I would ever say it, but this course was tougher than Bethpage, which I played in 2002. It was the week of the triple bogey. I had one each of the first two days and if I would have just bogeyed each of those holes I would be playing this weekend. But I can't look back, only forward. US Opens compared to other tourneys are so much different because one mistake can cost you a ton of strokes. In other events you might be able to salvage a par after a bad shot, but not in an Open."

Anybody ever play any of these courses? Anybody watch the US Open? It would be great to hear some feedback. You can read the rest of Ricky's entry here: Ricky Barnes » Blog Archive » My Week Off at the US Open

Talk to you soon! Back on the road Monday!!!

Thanks for the report. It's fun to read a first hand players perspective.

Nice Grind Guy - it looks like Barnes did reasonably well the first day, but exploded the second. I got the heebee geebee's just watching them over the weekend. I don't think I would have broken 120, but I still would have loved to try.

Ricky can bomb it with anybody. He'll be back on the big tour one day, he's got plenty of game to be a top player.

I met him last year in Houston at the Nationwide Tour Championship. Very little crowd on the Houstonian course and saw me standing there, came over and briefly chatted. Nice guy.

Great Guy!!! Sometimes, hard to get a hold of for interviews and such. But, once you do manage to sit him down, you can see the star quality.